Introduction
World War I also known as the Great War or war to end all wars was a worldwide military conflict which involved most of the world great powers. Basically, there existed two groups: the central powers and Entente powers which opposed each other. During this war more than 15 million people died, making it the major conflict in the history of man. The catalyst of this war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Australia on 28th June 1914 by a Serbian terrorist. The demands of Austria- Hungary against kingdom of Serbia activated series of alliances which in a matter of weeks led major European powers into war, which later spread worldwide. By the end of this war the imperial powers Russia, Germany, Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had been politically and militarily defeated. The Second World War happened to be a global military conflict in majority of world’s nations where there was two military alliances that opposed each other. They were the Axis and the Allies. More than 70 million people were killed. The start of this war is attributed to invasion of Germany to Poland on 1st sept 1939. This led to most countries in France and British common wealth declaring war on Germany. This war started from 1939-1945.
First World War
By 1914, Britain seemed to be in fear for the war with Germany following the outbreak of First World War. Throughout this time, Germany presented itself as a main enemy in case of any war. It is during this time that Britain realized the threat making it form an alliance with Japan, Russia and France. British declared war with Germany and its allies. This saw to the invasion and occupation of most of Germany colonies in the overseas. Germany colonies in pacific, New Zealand and Africa were invaded and occupied. This helped Britain to expand its control over countries like Transjordan and a number of sections of Togo. Britain also managed to extend its territory to Cameroon Iraq, Tanganyika and Palestine. It is therefore true to say Britain had a lot of gain during the First World War where it managed to invade and occupy a number of Germany colonies (Wilfried, n.d).
Second World War
During Second World War, Britain declared war on Nazi of Germany in the year 1939. Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand soon declared war on Germany. By 1940 Germany had occupied France which left British and its Empire standing alone against Germany until Soviet Union joined the war in 1941. During this time, the British prime minister requested military support from U.S president Franklin Roosevelt who at this time was not ready to engage his country into war. Japan by this time had been growing into an imperial power in the Far East after it defeated china in first Sino Japanese war in 1895. Around 1941 in the month of December, Japan launched attacks on British Malaya, U.S and Hong Kong. This led to long lasting blow to the British Empire. The entry of U.S into war made Churchill think that Britain was assured of conquest and that the empire would be safe. But things changed drastically seeing Britain surrender which altered its standing as an imperial power. With the realization that Britain couldn’t defend the other empires, Austria and New Zealand engaged into closer ties with U.S. which yielded into Anzus pact of 1951. Britain was let behind in this pact and saw the big empire being left into ruins and bankrupt. Though the empire and Britain emerged victorious the effects were so much profound both abroad and at home ( ibid).
Conclusion
In conclusion the First World War made Britain more powerful with so many colonies and empires. At this time it was considered to be great imperial power. Second World War saw many changes happen where the Britain had to surrender in number instances losing support of various countries which instead formed entities with the U.S. the many fatalities and death that was realized during First World War gave birth to innovations. Some of these innovations included military people upgrading their tactics in war in order to avert many deaths and casualties. Guns being the main weapons during first world war culminated into use and manufacturing of more sophisticated weapons in world war II. These included use of radar in communication, improvement on command and control and trenches. The Second World War saw into the improved technology where battleships, ballistic missiles, jet aircrafts, tanks and many weapons of mass destruction and atomic weapons were used. Though some had not been thoroughly tested on their impact, they were still used like the case of Nagasaki bombing. It will true to say that these wars led to much innovations and advancement in technology which has been used up to date with improvements on what had been discovered earlier.
Work cited
Wilfred, braakhuis. The world at war, history of the world war1939-1945. Web.